Publisher's Summary

When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961 he had nearly completed A Moveable Feast, which eventually was published posthumously in 1964 and edited by his widow Mary Hemingway. This new special edition of Hemingway's classic memoir of his early years in Paris in the 1920's presents the original manuscript as the author intended it to be published at the time of his death.

This new publication also includes a number of unfinished Paris sketches on writing and experiences that Hemingway had with his son, Jack, his wife Hadley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others. A personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, precedes an introduction by the editor, Sean Hemingway, grandson of the author.

Don’t let the Sample discourage you from listening to this wonderful book! The Sample—the forward and introduction—are presented by relatives of Hemingway, not the narrator J. B. Lloyd.

Lloyd does a wonderful job narrating this up-lifting Hemingway book. For a sample of Lloyd’s voice, check out Michael Crichton’s Micro: A Novel.

This story is a love story and a tale of regret—a tale of lessons learned from the altered and divorcee.

You hear Hemingway’s thoughts about himself, about the writing process, and about others including some of literature’s best: Fitzgerald, James, Ford, Gertrude Stein (It is no wonder why she didn’t talk with him after this book—showing that honesty in print isn’t always the best policy.).

A bonus is found at the end of the book: Hemingway’s revisions of a section. You hear how he edited a section of his work, over, and over again—the subtle changes towards perfection, Hemingway style.

This is a perfect complement to The Paris Wife and Midnight in Paris.

Please click YES if this review was helpful to you. And Happy Listening!

These are good stories. Narration is flawless. With that being said, I want to mention one should tread carefully with reading this book. Hemingway's other books are all semi-autobiographical. Stuff like Farewell and For Whom the Bell Tolls are real stories wrapped in the blanket of fiction. While interesting, these stories unfortunately show you the real man who wrote these fictions. It's akin to seeing the wizard in wizard of oz. So, it might ruin his other stories for you. But, if you can handle that, this is a good book with interesting stories about a young man trying to grasp writing and living in Paris with his wife.

Sooo sick I couldn't sleep- Sat on my couch all week with my i-pod. Spent 7 hrs in 1920's Paris with Hemingway & his unfinished novel 'A Moveable Feast' -the new Ed. LOVED every second of it -like crack cocaine to a writer. I WILL listen to it again and again. I esp enjoyed hearing his son and grandson. Thank you for this.

This book, which is a compendium of stories and notes from Hemingway's early days in Paris is a wonderful insight into this important literary figures life. There is some of Hemingway's work that is pure magic, stories that take you into a place and time and tell a story in a way that changes your life in some impactful manner, 'The Sun Also Rises' 'The Green Hills of Africa' are two of my favorites. Some of his stories, short stories especially, are dark and difficult to expose yourself to. This book opens the window and discusses how he wrote and how he felt about how he wrote, it portrays the happy time of his life writing and being poor and being happy with Hadley, his first wife and one whom he was forever affectionate toward and living in Paris with other writers. He writes about them, and their life, and about life in that time.Some of the book drifts into silly dialog, and some of the book is classic Hemingway that is moving and sinks into your soul.If you are a Hemingway fan, and a fan of literature of this era this book is one you cannot let go by the wayside. Highly recommended.

Whether you like Hemingway or not this is a good book ... a peek into history ... the life of a writer ... paris ... food ... cafe's ... art ... a moveable feast is a must read for lovers of literature

His story about his experiences with Fitzgerald in Paris is the largest of these stories, and it really a biography in its own right. His ability to describe Fitzgerald’s looks and quirks shows his own writing genius. This is Hemingway at his personal best: the man who supported another genius even though that genius had severe mental handicaps.

A memoir - similar to a diary. Hemingway writes about 30 different experiences he had during the 1920s. Most were set in Paris, France, where he lived with his wife Hadley. Examples: his visits with Gertrude Stein, betting on horse racing, a trip he made with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a ski trip he made with his wife. I was sad thinking about the poverty he and his wife lived through. Sometimes he went hungry. He said he and his wife were in love and happy during that time. I was concerned about all the alcohol drinking by Hemingway and others. He said it did not interfere with his work, but I wondered.

I was sad that Scott’s wife Zelda sabotaged Scott’s writing, frequently interrupting him, and tempting him to drink. She was jealous of his writing.

I liked Hemingway’s comment about Ford Madox Hueffer and lying. “Almost everyone lies and the lies are not important. Some people we loved for their lies and would wait hopefully for them to start their best ones. Ford though lied about things that left scars. He lied about money and about things that were important in daily living that he would give you his word on.”

I would have preferred a biography written by someone researching Hemingway’s life - using these memoirs as a source but confirming them with other sources. Hemingway wrote several introductions for this book which appear in the last chapter. In all of them he begins “This is fiction.” I think he did that to avoid or reduce lawsuits since he was writing about people he knew. That troubled me. I’d prefer knowing this was factual, not made up. But it sounded factual because it didn’t have things that fiction usually has. One interesting chapter was about loving two women at the same time, which ended with his divorce from Hadley and marrying Pauline. He had great remorse over this, and he believed Hadley had a good life through marrying another man later.

A negative: this was unfinished. It was published after his death by relatives. The first publishers eliminated some sections. The second publishers included more. I regret that Hemingway was not able to edit and rewrite his own words.

Apparently the print version has pictures which I did not see, since I did the audiobook.

I read this in high school and again in college. That second reading led me to some of the bars and other places Hemingway hung out in while on my first trip to Paris in 1967 during my junior year.

Now that I'm a grown-up I listened to the book and was taken back to the Paris of my youth. This followed listening to "The Paris Wife" and seeing "Midnight in Paris" over the summer and a visit to his haunts on Lake Maggiore in Italy last fall, which is along the escape route in "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway is a classic and this version of the book is, too.

I just wish the sample was of the narrator speaking. It is really important to me to know what I'm getting in to, so it seems a bit silly to have a sample hat isn't who you will be listening to for hours.

This audio book gives interesting information about the author's life. This proved invaluable to me when I was studying the author. It enabled be to link together the book I was studying at the time (Fiesta) and some of his other short stories and novels. It also gives fascinating information about the other artists Hemingway used to know.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mercadier

Plymouth, United Kingdom

12/24/12

Overall

"An Unforgetable Memoir"

This is an excellent memoir of Ernest Hemingway's life in Paris. It's descriptions of Paris in the twenties are vivid and feature characters such as Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. The memoir is superbly narrated and is very moving throughout. I have listened to this audio-book several times and it impresses me every time.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Vera

Manchester, United Kingdom

4/18/12

Overall

"Excellent book"

I thoroughly enjoyed the book narrated by John Bedford Lloyd. It is a shame he has not done any of books by Ernest Hemingway

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Judy Corstjens

6/12/12

Overall

"I moved it to the back of my list"

I really didn't get on with this and after a couple of chapters I gave up. There was something so self serving about the re-hashed memoir (notes from an earlier period, re-edited once he was famous. I'm not interested in the flavour of pre-war tangerines in a cafe in Paris, or some famous author's sexual fantasy about the waitress. Call me a philistine, but I'm just not. I eat my own tangerines etc., and maybe read his novels.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

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